Blitzkrieg-Did the Germans do it by the book?

I have read several books on german military strategy and I have not been able to focus on exactly how blitzkrieg was executed. It would depend on the enemy defenses but isn't be best defense a good offense? If the germans are 'punching' holes in the weak areas of your lines wouldn't it be possible to do the exact same to the germans? When i thrust my sword am i not the most vulnerable? My understanding was that tanks would 'punch' holes in weak lines and then race to the rear of the enemy's defenses etc. and wreak havoc with communication and headquarters/command positions thus demoralizing the enemy. Aircraft would support the infantry by knocking out enemy tanks and aircraft and airfields and other short range(and long) targets?I would assume the infantry followed the tanks through the 'hole' but if they had few trucks or motorized transport wasn't this non-blitzkrieg or did the follow up troops mop up the demoralized and communicationless enemy troops before they had time to reorganize? Is it possible that the no country invaded by germany was aware of just what 'lightening' war was and develop some countermeasures? I guess the secret to blitzkrieg was 'envelopment'. I keep reading about the huge envelopments made by the panzers in russia. Didn't anyone besides the russians develop countermeasures such as AT and what about mines. Wouldn't it be relatively easy to allow the germans to think you were weak and then let them 'punch' through a minefield? I guess I have been reading the wrong strategy books. Thanks in advance.

I thought the armor came *after* the infantry (with support) 'punched holes' in the defense. I believe Ardennes '44 was done this way.

No. One important aspect is strategic and operational paralysis. German moves would be coming so fast that your HQ would react too slow. Germans attack your forces covering the Ardennes, so you order troops to that sector. After those troops start moving, German forces have punched through, so your give new orders tot eh same troops, sending them to establish a blocking position not far away. But the Germans, still moving fast and disregarding their falnks, arrive at the blocking position at the same time your troops do, turning your delaying action into a meeting engagement, which the German force is ready for and your force isn't.

These events build on themselves and the situation takes on a life of it's own. At some point the German force must re-group, take replacements, refuel and rearm, but *they* have planned for that. And you have no idea when that'lll be, so you just keep fighting as best you can.

To see an effective defense against a Blitz attack, see the 'Race for the Rhine'. The only wat the Germans could keep their lines intact was to fall back far enough, fast enough, that the Allied forces outran their supplies, *forcing*, on GERMAN terms, that re-group I mentioned above.

Play more with Claymore! V-Man 'I see we have a few less communists, socialists, and communitarian types in NYC this morning. '

As I understand it, the idea was to advance as rapidly as possible through enemy lines, bypassing any resistance which could not be quickly and easily overwhelmed. The Germans didn't seek weak points to attack, so much as they they simply ignored any very strong ones and passed on.

Once They had advanced a large enough number of forces into the lightly defended enemy rear, They could easily consolidate their troops back into a solid line, while follow up troops destroyed the remaining isolated enemy pockets in their rear, piecemeal.

All these pockets would be individually surrounded, and as the phrase goes, 'reduced', starting with the most troublesome/threatening ones. It was the bulk of the German army which performed this task, only the armored devisions, airforce and the elite infantry (all motorized ) actually did the blitzkrieg attacks.

Remember, these pockets would be isolated from each other, have no communication with their headquarters, have no idea what was happening

around them, and have no chance whatsoever of re-supply.

None of the forces Germany faced in the early war had any concept of how these tactics worked, and so had no defense against them. Blitzkrieg wasn't brilliant, just very different from what anyone was prepared for.

It worked very well against small armies in small countries. The problems you mention came into effect in Russia, where the capital and the industrial base were not a weeks march away, and where the territory was so vast that the pockets could easily escape undetected into the Germans rear and reform as partisans.

If you want to read about it in detail, Len Deightons's 'Blitzkrieg' is excellent in discussing both how and why it worked, and he's a great writer to boot.

Also, if you can ever find it (the library -check public and university- or maybe it's still in print) 'Panzer General' by Heinz Guederian can't be beat. Who better to explain it than one of the men who invented it, and it's greatest practitioner.

Blitzkrieg was a concept, and as such was totally disorienting to the armies that faced it in 1939 and 1940. The Germans melded airplanes, tanks, and radio into a kind of warfare that was completely new. The Poles, French, Dutch, and Belgians could no more cope with the onslaught than the Taliban could cope with laser-guided bombs in Afghanistan.

By 1942, and certainly by 1943, the Allies had developed air-ground warfare to roughly the same level as the Germans. Their tanks weren't as good, and neither were their anti-tank guns, but that didn't matter as much as mastering the concept. By bringing more tanks to bear, by cutting the German supply lines, and above all by being aggressive, they were able to nullify blitzkreig and start rolling the Germans back.

In short, blitzkreig worked only once, when it was first introduced. Rather like the Japanese carrier assault on Pearl Harbor, come to think of it.

all the best

Germany, britain, switzerland and a bunch of other european countries made hollow charge weapons before the US.

It was an american engineer noted the 'Monroe effect' in the 1880s after observing the letters 'USN' incised in gun cotton reproduced themselves onto slabs of steel on detonation. He didn't do much more than show the effect though.

There was no actual workable weapon of any sort until Neumann (a german) showed that lining the hollow with metal and making it stand off from the target greatly increased the effect.

It would thus be rather more accurate to say 'the germans invented the hollow charge AT shell'. Although the british came a pretty close second and other nations, other than the US, weren't far behind. The germans made more use of the principle than anyone else in the early war. EG. They had engineering devices for Eben Emael and hollow charge shells used in the 75mm field gun and 75mil l24 of the pz4 and stug3... in 1940.

The first british rifle grenade using the hollow charge principle was in service in 1940. I mention this because the rocket for the bazooka is based on a US army hollow charge rifle grendade. The first US rifle grenade ( the m9) using the principle dates to 1941. There are suggestions that the research for this was done by Dr Mohaupt of Switzerland.

Andy O'Neill www.l-25.demon.co.uk/index.htm